Black & White!

Yesterday was so much fun and it started, early in the morning, when I checked my e-mail. Carol had sent me two notes with a picture attached to her last one. Carol wrote:

"Scout and I can make you one, too!"

Then she wrote:

"I was gonna give Scout a bath today cuz he's getting really ripe, but on 2nd thought I think it would be great to have your wig really personalized. Every time you put it on you'll think of Scout. You'll smell just like him, too.

I love that my friend Carol wants to make me a wig/bun using Scout's hair, but I am not sure if I will wear the black bun, because it would look pretty weird next to my white hair. I mean I love black & white pictures, black & white check patterns, etc. But a black bun worn, on top of my head, would stand out like a green thumb and I know that it would draw unwanted attention to me. 

Later in the morning, before we took off to go meet Carol & Bill, in Kerrville, at the River's Edge Art Gallery, to attend the Hogan & Moss outdoor concert, I talked to Tony about my dilemma, and he suggested, "Well, you could dye your hair black and that would look okay."

"Tony, I can't do that because it would be too harsh of a contrast. Seriously, I would look like a pitiful, over the hill streetwalker. And I could get arrested for that. And I'm too old to get arrested and my family would be horrified and disown me... " 

When we got to Kerrville, we parked Trigger, in the parking lot, behind Wolfmueller's Books, so we could visit with Sandy & Jon for a few minutes before meeting Carol & Bill, down the block. 

As soon as we walked inside their super-cool bookstore, which was packed with customers, Jon, Sandy and Jon's sweet sister Jean greeted us and then Jon started laughing and said, "We were just talking about you and Jean has something to ask you."

"Jean, you cannot have my pretty, pink potholder that you helped me make. It's mine."

"That's not what I was going to ask," Jean replied, followed by a chuckle. "Nancy, I want to know if you would want some of my hair for making Carol's Top Bun. Because this morning after I had brushed out my hair, I was removing the hair from my brush and I thought of you, so I decided to save it, just in case you would like to to use some of it? Then it would be a human and dog hair Top Bun."

After we had quit laughing, I said, "Sure that would be a great addition, Jean. Y'all are not going to believe all of the dog hair people are sending to me right now. In fact, Fay, in Toronto, has already shipped me some of her dog hair, but it hasn't arrived, yet...."

At 1:00, we met Carol & Bill, in front of the River's Edge Art Gallery, on Water Street, just in time to hear Hogan & Moss' kick off their first great song. And before they had finished singing it a huge crowd had gathered around us, to enjoy their unique, awesome music. 

Our good friend, Irene Van Winkle, a fabulous, award-winning author and a top-notch reporter for the popular, newspaper West Kerr Current walked up to visit with us. Then she took off and started taking a few pictures of Hogan & Moss performing while taking notes, because she was writing a story about all of the fun Memorial Day weekend festivities that are going on in town.

After we had enjoyed listening to Hogan & Moss, the four of us went to Wolfmueller's Books, so we could visit with Sandy & Jon and Jean. And after we had introduced Carol & Bill to Jean we had a fun visit.

Later in the afternoon, Tony went and picked up our mail and to my surprise—Fay's hair care package arrived, from Canada and to say the least—I was more than thrilled about it. So I took these couple of pictures to document it.

Across the top of the cute, card-holding-hair, Fay wrote: "Happy Wool Spinning! Love, Fay & Pup xoxo."

I was so thrilled that Fay had sent me some of Ranger's black hair, because the amount that she sent to me would definitely be enough to replace the amount I lost of Mari's black dog hair, which thanks to Henry Standing Bear is now gone with the wind. 

Last night, after I had successfully removed all of the dog hair that seemed permanently stuck, inside the salad spinner, I watched Savannah Sunrise, another great Netflix movie that I highly recommend watching. 

And that is about it for today, because I am fixin' to go take a short nap with our dogs. And please note that I wrote this post, early this afternoon, because I might not be able to write tonight due to some possible thunderstorms. And if we do get those thunderstorms, this evening, I am already prepared to spend my spare time spinning more dog hair, because everything inside The Cabin will be unplugged. 

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing.  

Flashback Favorites! or Gone With The Wind!

Yesterday was a lot of fun for Tony and me and so was today. Last Wednesday Mari and I made plans to eat lunch together, for two reasons. The first being that we hadn't seen each other for over a year. And the second reason was for her to hand-deliver her dog's hair to me instead of mailing it or leaving it for me to pick up, at Wolfmueller's Books.

Tony and I love Sandy & Jon and I think they would be fine with Mari dropping off her hair package, but after Mari had sent me this note I figured that it might be a little much to ask of them and possibly might become a hairy situation and it just wasn't worth it. And I know that Carol wouldn't want that to happen. Mari wrote :

"Aussies lose a lot of hair in the spring. You'll be surprised how much I'll bring you and yet I haven't finished grooming him yet!

Mari"

We had a blast eating lunch with Mari, as we always do. We caught up with each others news and spent a lot of time laughing. And I am so glad that we met her for lunch, because she did have a big bag of hair to give to me and it would have been horrible if it had gotten lost in the mail and she had forgotten to insure it.

When we got back home Tony carried in our groceries and I carried in "Mari's Sack of Hair," because I could not wait to wash her Aussie's hair.  

Early this afternoon after we ate lunch, I decided to take a break and wash "Mari's Sack of Hair," in the kitchen sink. And sadly it went straight downhill from there. And I have to admit that it was my fault, even though I wanted to blame it on some kind of cosmic happening, but I couldn't find one.

Anyway while I was washing the dog hair I had YouTube on and I was listening to Leon Russell singing his awesome version of Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues, on Music Mike's Flashback Favorites Channel. And I believe that was the last time that I was happy and smiling while I was working on my "Carol's Top Knot Bun project." Which I've just renamed— Top Bun.

Because after I washed "Mari's Sack of Hair" our sink got all stopped up and it would not finish draining. Not wanting Tony to know that the sink was stopped up, I put a dish towel underneath the wet hair strainer, so it wouldn't drip all over the floor. 

Then I carried it outside, to let it dry, in the sun. And I was totally unaware that Henry Standing Bear was watching me. Because I thought that he and Lori Darlin' were playing, in the backyard.

Anyway, that was one big, hairy mistake that I made and I should have known better not to dry Mari's Sack of Hair outside. I should have just dried it the way I usually do— in the salad spinner. 

As I was contemplating the best place to put the hair strainer for maximum sun, in the front yard, I heard Kermit coming, off in the distance and that put me in sort of a panic mode, because I wanted to unstop the kitchen sink, so Tony would never know that I've been washing dog hair, in our kitchen sink.

As the sound of Kermit became louder and louder, time was of the essence, so I skipped, down the dog ramp, instead of using the steps and put the hair strainer, in the middle of our front yard. Then I skipped back, up the dog ramp and went inside to unplug the sink. 

The plunger only took me three plunges to unclog the kitchen sink and when Tony came inside The Cabin, I was sitting in front of my laptop—breathing hard. "Have you been outside?" Tony asked, holding the hairy hair strainer in one hand.

"No. Why?" I lied.

"You should see our front yard. It's covered in hair." 

"Oh no," I said, as my heart sank and my breathing slowed back to normal. "I washed Mari's Sack of Hair" and I put it outside so it would dry naturally. I thought Hen and Lori were in the backyard." Then we went outside. 

Our front yard looked like it was a disaster area. Mari's complete collection of precious, Aussie dog hair was scattered all over the yard, with strands and little tufts of it flying around, in the air. "Don't worry Nance, what the birds don't carry off the wind will blow the rest of it away." Then we came back inside The Cabin.

"I feel terrible about losing Mari's Sack of Hair," I said. "But I've learned my lesson. When Fay's Sack of Hair arrives I'll figure out another way of drying it."

"Why don't you try using the salad spinner?" Tony asked. "I bet that'll dry it."

Late this afternoon, I re-watched this Youtube tutorial video, that my good friend Cathy sent to me, last week, about how to correctly fold up a sleeping bag. I watched it and with Tony's and Big Al(ice)'s help and Little Debbie watching—we got it rolled up to where it finally fits back inside it's box. 

And as I finish writing this I want to thank sweet Mari for collecting and giving me her sack of treasured, Aussie dog hair and to apologize to her for accidentally letting it be gone with wind. And I also want to thank Cathy, in North Texas for sending me that Youtube video on how to fold up a sleeping bag.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!  

Hollywood! or Penny Loafer!

Sunday was great, except that I had a hard time falling to sleep, because of a song that popped into my head, but I'll tell you about it later on, in this post.

The great news is that we took sweet, handsome Copper, to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to drop him off for his fabulous adoption today. We did that so his new family, Diana & Barry, could save themselves from having to drive all of the way out here to pick him up and take him home.

We've met Diana & Barry before, because a few years back, they came out and adopted our sweet, older Beagle—Miss Daisy. Don't worry. Daisy is still with them, but because their two older dogs have passed away, from old age, months ago, they wanted to get a companion for Daisy And also, because they LOVE dogs.

In fact, they love dogs so much, after they had decided to adopt Copper, they showed us several great pictures of Daisy's wonderful life, on their big, beautiful ranch. We loved looking at their pictures of Miss Daisy especially the one of her sleeping, on her bed, after they had tucked her in for the night.

"We always tuck our dogs in, before bedtime, using small blankets," Diana told us. "And in the morning when we get up they are always still sleeping, under their blankets. Our dogs love it and...."And that is just one more reason why we are so very happy about them adopting Mr. Copper.

After we dropped Copper off, at Hoegemeyers, we went to the big H-E-B to stock up on some groceries and I am so glad that we did, because I ran into our good friend Jennifer, while I was picking out some cheese to buy.

Jennifer and her husband Robert, are the super nice couple who recently adopted Hollywood from us. "....How is Hollywood doing?" I asked, as I put a package of sliced Havarti cheese, into my shopping cart. (Tony wasn't with me, because he was outside, at the gas pumps, filling up Trigger.)

Jennifer gave me an earful about how great Hollywood is and how much they love her. "She's the best Pit Bull that we've ever had! Both Robert & I grew up with Pits and seriously, she is the most lovable one that we've ever had. She's great with our grand kids, loves our other dog and we've spoiled her rotten and...."

Then Jennifer pulled out her cell phone and showed me several pictures of Hollywood sleeping next to her husband, on their couch, Hollywood spread out and sleeping, in Robert's recliner, etc. And after I looked at the pictures, I said, "We can't thank you enough for adopting sweet Hollywood from us. I am so glad that I ran into you, because you've just made my day great. I am so happy for all of you and..."

Fast forward to late Sunday night when I had a hard time falling to sleep. It was nearly 11:00 and it was way past my bedtime when I went to bed. And right after I laid down and pulled the covers up this song popped into my head for some reason and I don't why it did. I like this song, but it has never been on my "Top 40" list of all-time favorite songs.

Anyway, I could hear the tune as clear as day, in my head, but I couldn't remember the lyrics to it or who sang it and that started driving me crazy. All I could come up with was, "Penny loafer something, something walk on by. Penny loafer something, something...."

As I lay in bed, thinking about that song, I thought to myself, "That can't be the right words to that song. Who would write a stupid song about penny loafers?" Then I remembered that, at Wedgwood Junior High, in Fort Worth, all of my friends and I wore penny loafers and we loved them.

Bass was the name brand for these popular penny loafer's called Weejuns. And back then if you didn't wear Weejuns—you weren't considered to be cool. Which was totally stupid thinking on my part.

Anyway, I am almost certain that if I hadn't worn my Weejuns, at the debate, on stage, which mostly consisted of me saying, "Vote for Me!" and shaking borrowed pom-poms, at the audience, I probably would have never been elected the 7th Grade Class Secretary. And of course it didn't hurt my campaign that my brother Ronnie was good-looking and pretty popular as was his sweet girlfriend, Nita, because they were in the 8th grade and they and their friends had endorsed me by clapping their hands real loud with hoots and hollers, "We love Nancy."

I do have to admit that Ron & Nita's endorsement and me wearing those expensive pair of super, cool Weejuns helped me win the 7th grade Class Secretary election by an historic landslide: 26 to 22. Because on election day my opponent wore white Bobby socks with laced up tennis shoes, while I was wearing "Smokey" pull-up, seamless hose that were being held up by my new, training girdle.

I am so grateful that I won that distinguished title, because my only important job being the Class Secretary for that year was reading a daily scripture, from the Bible, over the school's loud intercom, before morning classes began.

And after nine months of my morning, inspirational, spiritual, readings, that the nice Principal had hand-picked for me to read, all I got out of it was this small, silver charm with "7th Grade Secretary '64-'65" etched across it. Which I somehow lost that following Summer.

But that little charm, that I had worn so proudly, for such a short amount of time, on my cluttered, clinking, silver, charm bracelet, is the reason why I never got into politics, later on in my life.

Because it was a reminder to me that I had, on a daily basis, had broken the law by unknowingly mixing politics with religion. Which means that if I were to ever run for any Public office today it would undoubtedly resurface and ruin my credibility to be a politician for any office.

Anyway, after thinking about all of this and my early, charmed life "Penny loafer something, something walk on by..." popped back into my head, again. So, I let out a deep sigh and did what I had to do.

Which of course, I immediately regretted doing, because I quietly climbed out of bed, but obviously I wasn't quiet enough, because it woke up Henry Standing Bear who had been sleeping soundly, on top of my newly, numbed feet. And that caused a huge chain-reaction that woke Little Debbie up and made her bark at Hen. So that caused Big Al(ice) to crawl out, from underneath the blankets and jump off the bed. Which then caused Belle to bark and then jump up on our bed and land on top of Tony's privates. Which immediately caused Tony to wake up and growl a few nasty words at Belle.

In between Tony's groans, I half-whispered, "Every thing's fine, Tony. Go back to sleep," as I tip-toed out of our bedroom. Mumbling to myself, "Who in the heck would write a stupid song about penny loafers?"

So I turned on my laptop, sat down and Googled: "pop song Penny Loafer" and I immediately found the answer for what I was looking for—even though it made me feel dumber than dumb.

The title of this famous, hit song is actually Penny Lover—not penny loafer and it was written by Lionel Richie and Brenda Harvey. Lionel Richie sang Penny Lover and it was released in 1984.

And after I had listened very closely to Lionel Richie sing the words of this song, in the wee hours of the morning, in my defense—I still think it sounds like he's singing "penny loafer." So I am now blaming all of this loafer/lover confusion on me being hard-of-hearing ever since I attended that fabulous, super-sonic-loud, Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Tubular Bells Concert, in Dallas, in the '70's.

So now what all of this proves to me is that I've had serious hearing problems ever since that great, ear-splitting concert, because that would explain why a lot of the song lyrics that I've listened to have never made much sense to me.

And that's about it for today, because I need to go take a nap with our dogs, so I can catch up on some much needed beauty sleep.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

We Did & They Did!

Today has been great. This morning our great friends/dog-walking volunteers came out and walked our dogs for us. Eileen also came out and she brought along her two, nice, motorcycle friends, Joe and Lentz, that are touring Texas, on their bikes, because they wanted to see our rescue ranch and to also meet Kinky.

When Eileen and her friends arrived this morning I called Kinky to make sure that it was a good time for him to meet them, and he said, "Yes, come on over." And we did.

While we were having a fun visit with Kinky, he once again told Tony how much he loves the canvas print of Tony's 2009, beautiful photo of Little Jewford and Shalom, down by the creek.

So while Kinky was visiting with Joe, Lentz & Eileen, in his office, I took this picture of the canvas print that is hanging on a wall in the big room. Because it was dark inside the canvas print is hanging on the left side of Tom's portrait and above the photo of Brownie.

After we had a fun visit, inside the Lodge, Kinky suggested that we all go outside and visit on the porch. And we did that, too.

When it was time for us to go back to the rescue ranch Lentz and Joe asked Kinky if they could get a picture taken of all three of them. And they did. 

This is the picture that I took of them when they posed for Eileen's, Tony's and my cameras.

When we returned to the rescue ranch we took off to go eat lunch together with our great friends/dog-walking volunteers, at the Apple Store, in Medina. And that was a lot of fun and the food was delicious.

This evening, weather permitting, we are going, to the Medina Highpoint Resort, to eat their delicious Friday Night All You Can Eat Catfish Buffet. And then Eileen, Carol and us are going to go outside and sit, on the beautiful patio and listen to Hogan & Moss play some of their fabulous music, under the stars or the clouds. 

Carol & Bill, Tony and I are already huge fans of Hogan & Moss music and Eileen is very excited about finally getting to hear them play. So all of us are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather will cooperate this evening and we will get to see Hogan & Moss perform.  

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! 

Brian Molnar! or A Hairy Situation!

Tuesday, Wednesday and today have all been great. Tuesday morning this super nice couple, Diana & Barry, came out to possibly adopt a companion dog for Daisy, the sweet, old dog that they had adopted from us several years ago. And they fell in love with Topper. So later that day Diana called me to tell me that they are going to come back, next Monday, to adopt her. And Tony and I are totally thrilled about it.

Wednesday we ate lunch with our good friends, at Hippie Chicks Bakery & Bistro. Tony and I were the first to place our orders and we didn't order the exact same thing like we usually do.

Tony ordered first while I was visiting with Denise and Kris and he ordered their new Muffuletta sandwich like I was going to do, but right after he placed his order the chef came out and announced that they had just run out of the Muffuletta bread. So I ordered their delicious Meatball Sub instead.

Their extremely popular Muffuletta sandwich is their newest addition to their menu and it was the secret sandwich that I wrote about, a few weeks ago. Their Muffuletta sandwich that I could not announce was, because they wanted to be the first to announce it. And because their New Orleans own Joe Gambino Muffuletta sandwich is so popular now it is the reason why they had just run out of it for the day.

When we saw Tony's delicious-looking Muffuletta sandwich we all teased him about him being so lucky to get the last Muffuletta for the day. And Tony teased us back about it being so delicious while Les, Denise and Kris raved about how delicious their Rueben sandwiches were. "These Ruebens are the best I've ever eaten...."

After we got back to the rescue ranch Kinky called and invited us to come over for a visit and we had a super fun visit with him and Brian Molnar. They told us about some of the funny things that happened to them, on the road, on their East Coast/Mid West tour. And both of them raved about the "the great care package" that Fay & Ian had given to them before the show.

Two hours later, before we adios-ed Brian and Kinky, Brian Molnar gave us a copy of his newly released Bluegrass CD—Brian Molnar And Slow Rolling Low Old—Paint. And we absolutely love it, especially his fabulous Bluegrass versions of Mountain Dew and Wade In the Water. In fact, we love it so much we can't quit listening to it.

Last night when I checked my e-mail I could not quit laughing after reading Fay's and Mari's hilarious messages.

Fay wrote:

"I mailed the clean dog hair today!"

Mari wrote: 

"I've been brushing my red merle Aussie and already have a lot of undercoat to send you for Carol's hairpiece. How much do you need/want?"

I wrote Fay and Mari back to thank them for sending me their dog hair that is needed to make Carol's tiny bun or top-knot for her Christmas present. And I can't wait to start tracking Fay's hairy package, because it might turn out to be a hairy situation with the Canadian and US Custom Officials. 

And get this—Mari is actually going to hand-deliver me her collection of red Aussie dog hair when we eat lunch together next week. And I am seriously thinking about asking Carol to join us, so she can personally thank Mari for her hairy contribution.

Y'all have a great Thursday and keep on laughing!

What Is The Secret?!

Today has turned out to be great even though I almost had a big scare, late this afternoon, but fortunately, as you can see I survived it.

Early this morning, after Tony did his morning chores outside, we mowed and mowed and mowed. And the good news is that we've only got three pens left to push—mow. But the bad news is that it looks like we're going to have rain starting tomorrow and for the next few days. And then we'll start mowing again. And this is one of the main reasons that I am so fond of the desert. (There's no grass, in Terlingua.)

Early this afternoon, after I cooked us lunch and cleaned up the kitchen, we went back outside and mowed for about another hour. Then our backs started aching, so we came inside to rest.

Late this afternoon, after Tony took off to go help Ellen take pictures of some homeless cats, in hopes to help her get them adopted to loving homes, is when I almost had my my big scare. Which I must admit upfront, was self-induced, because I had vowed to do it.

Anyway, before my almost big scare happened I put our dogs outside and then I cranked up my music real loud to help me gather up my strength. And with JJ Cale and Eric Clapton jamming & singing Call Me The Breeze I marched back into our bedroom and swung open our closet door, because I was going to tackle (feng-shui) our closet aka wine cellar aka Hazel's Place—no matter what horrible things that might be lurking inside there.

When Leon Russell began singing his beautiful love song Back To The Island I looked at the total wreck that our closet was in and that scared me and I was even tempted to bail-out or jump ship, so to speak.

As I began removing all kinds of ridiculous stuff, piled up on the floor of our closet or else jammed into spaces above our hanging clothes, I came this close to shouting, "Man Overboard!" and skip out of our bedroom as fast as I could and to never return. But I didn't. I held my course.

Even though I was scared about what I might find hiding behind my fine wine-box-rack, the dust-covered bread maker machine, that I haven't used in over two or three years, or inside the crock pot now with a missing lid, I was determined to clean up our mess. And fortunately nothing jumped out or even scared me, except for some gigantic, hairy dust bunnies that I plan to wash and dry tomorrow and keep for making Carol's tiny bun.

When I started to remove my pretty, pink sleeping bag I did start praying that there was nothing lurking inside it—like a scorpion or a brown recluse spider, because my sleeping bag was partially stuffed inside the box that it came in. And the reason for it only being tucked halfway inside the box is because after I had used it on my fun trip, to New Mexico, a few years ago, neither Tony or I could get it to roll up small enough for it to fit back inside the box that it came in.

Anyway, it took me about an hour to clean up and undo the total mess that we had created, inside our closet aka wine cellar aka Hazel's Place. And I am happy to report that cleaning out our closet was pretty much smooth sailing after all, because nothing—got me.

And as I finish writing this tonight, I am thrilled that our closet looks so nice and is once again organized. And before I watch a movie tonight I plan to Google "What is the secret to rolling up a sleeping bag and getting it to fit back inside the box?"

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Happy Mother's Day!

This has been a fun, faced-paced week for me and that is why I haven't blogged since last Sunday. First off, I want to wish a happy Mother's Day to everyone.

In fact, this afternoon Kinky called me, while we were outside mowing and he left me this message, on Carlton, "Hey Nance. I want to wish you a Happy Mother's Day—from one of your favorite mothers...."

So when I came back, inside The Cabin, I called him back and wished him a Happy Mother's Day too and we both had a good laugh about it since neither of us have any kids, except for the four-legged kind.

Then we caught up with each others latest news. Bottom Line    Kinky will be back, at the ranch, tomorrow evening and Tony and I cannot wait to give him his Mother's Day present, because we know that he is going to love it. (And after he gets it I will tel y'all what it is.)

We've spent this week seeing friends, mowing and doing rescue ranch work. I've also spun a few more strands of dog hair for Carol's little bun Christmas present, that I'm making her, I've also done some more writing and I am also in the middle of a painting that I'm working on.

And the favorite movie/documentary that I've watched this week was on Netflix and I highly recommend it, because it is an awesome PBS documentary, on Netflix: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise.

I am now fixin' to go outside and do some more work, on the interior, of the Mother Ship, in honor of Mother's Day and because it needs it. And I promise to write more often this week.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

It's The Little Things!

The last few days have been great. Except for this morning, nothing big actually happened, but it's the little things that have made me so happy.

I know that I may seem weird about always getting excited when little things happen to me, but I can't help it, because it's hereditary. And I am so glad that I have that little quirk, because I like staying on the sunny side of life.

Anyway, this past week four little things kept me smiling. The first thing that totally made my day was receiving my official Texas license plates, for Roy, the used 2012 GMC Sierra, pickup that I purchased a few days before Tony and I went, out to Terlingua, with Carol & Bill.

You may ask how could license plates make me so happy, so I'll tell y'all. Tuesday, Tony brought in our mail and he handed me the plates, wrapped, in brown paper. "Oh I'm glad they finally came," I said. "I hope they will mean something special to me." Then I unwrapped the plates and nearly half-hollered with excitement, "Omg! Look, Tony! This is way too cool!"

Tony looked at them and then he shrugged his shoulders, because he didn't get it. "What's so great about the letters JJC...?"

"It's a sign— JJ Cale! He's dead, but he is one of my most favorite musicians of all times." Tony laughed, but he still seemed to be unimpressed. "He wrote some of the most famous, Rock 'N Roll songs like: Call Me The Breeze, Goin' Down, Crazy Mama, After Midnight and...." And after I took this picture of Roy's new, super-cool plates, I started playing the YouTube video of JJ Cale playing Cocaine and I cranked up the volume and Tony went outside to put on Roy's license plates for me, before I could tell him that JJ Cale often played with Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Leon Russell and was Elton John's hero.

Wednesday afternoon another great little thing came, in the mail, for me. It was the Drop Spindle that my dear friend, Fay, had purchased for me, to help me spin our dog's hair for Carol's small dog-hair bun. That I'm planning to give her for Christmas. And I absolutely love the drop spindle. In fact, I've already spun about a one foot-long strand of dog-hair. "Thank you, Fay. You made that day great for me."

Thursday afternoon more great little things arrived, in the mail. Well, they are not exactly little things, because the three canvas prints are 16" x 20." I actually received seven canvas prints in all, but they are duplicates of Tony's beautiful picture of "Shalom and Little Jewford" down, by the creek and "The Waiting Game" and "Knock Knock" that are three of our most popular photos and paintings that we've sold.

And if you're considering getting a canvas print I highly recommend using Easy Canvas Prints, because they are the very best at what they do. They are friendly, professional people and fast.

And now the very best, little thing that has made both Tony and my week so great is sweet, little Red Foxx was adopted this morning, at 8:00!

He's that cute, little guy that was adopted from us over four-years ago, but was sadly returned to us, in March, after the woman's husband died. The volunteers and us were so sad that Red had come back to us, but of course, we totally understood the circumstances. 

Then one week later, Rachel, the sweet granddaughter of this couple, found out that Red was here so she called me and asked if she could please adopt Red Foxx, because she and her husband loved Red Foxx so much and that she had promised her grandfather that they would take care of little Red. And before we adios-ed each other that day, I had promised Rachel that we would hold Red Foxx until they could come and get him. And that day was today.

Earlier this week, Tony and I took Mr. Foxx, to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to get the rest of his shots and a health certificate, so he could fly with them, to their home, in Van Nuys, California.

And as I finish typing this post, I am smiling big-time, because right now it is12:17 and Red Foxx is flying the friendly skies, with Rachel & Kenny, to his new forever home, in sunny California. And he didn't have to fly in the cargo section of the plane! 

Y'all have a great Sunday and keep on laughing!

Hearts! or Cindys!

Today has been great. This morning I got up early so I could do the Big G show and talk about our rescue ranch. His Pet of the Week is Willie Nelson, a super-cool, sweet, four to five-year-old Lab Mix who's heart is full of LOVE to share.

While I was talking to Big G—Tony was outside doing his morning chores. He usually doesn't do them this early, but he had to, because he had  to report for jury duty and had to be, at the Kerr County Courthouse, by 8:45. So let's just say that he was not a happy camper this morning.

After Tony took off, in Trigger, I drank another cup of Donut Shop Coffee and was listening to JJ Cale's awesome music when my sweet sister Cindy called me. She wanted to know if I wanted to meet her, in Fredericksburg, for lunch today. And I told her that I would love to meet her for lunch, but I couldn't commit to it until I found out if Tony got dismissed from his jury duty. So that put us on hold until we knew one way or the other.

Originally, I had planned to mow today, but this morning when I told Tony of my plan to mow this morning, he more or less begged me not to, because he told me that he would be worried about me getting hurt and no one being here to help me. So he made me promise him that I would not mow until her got back to our rescue ranch. And I did with my fingers crossed, behind my back.

Pondering whether it would be more fun for me to see my sister or mow down our new, tall crop of weeds was not a hard decision for me to make. Seeing Cindy today was at the very top of my list for things for me to do today.

So, to pass the time while waiting to hear back from Tony I decided to get a head-start on my blogging for tonight. And right now it is 9:36 as I am typing this.

Last night I had also planned on blogging about my dear friend Cindy, in Northern New Mexico, but time simply got away from me. So I am going to do it now.

Cindy and her partner, Jody, a very talented New Mexico artist, have recently opened up this really beautiful Etsy shop called La Casa de Rosa (LACASADEROSA), and they are selling the most beautiful, hand-crafted hearts and altars that Jody has made. And the good news is—Jody's one-of-a-kind, lovely pieces of art are selling like hot cakes.

In fact, back in March, I ordered two of his pretty hearts, so I could give them as gifts to my friends, because they represent peace and love.And I love anything that is about peace and love. But of course, you already knew that.

Even though my intentions were good about giving these hearts away as gifts—I have to admit that I kept them instead. And I now have them hanging above and on opposite sides, of my kitchen sink, because they are my daily reminders that life is supposed to be about peace, love and harmony. 

Anyway, last week I purchased two more of Jody's hearts, so that I could give them as gifts to my dear friends. And they arrived yesterday. And once again, I am very tempted to keep them for myself.

But I'm not going to keep these beautiful hearts, because I want to give Jody's lovely, hand-painted, hearts to two of my friends that are going through some very difficult times. In hopes of lifting their spirits while they deal with what's been dealt them.

Well, it is now 10:32, two minutes past Cindy's and my cut-off time, for wanting to meet for lunch, in Fred-town, and since Tony has not yet called me, I'm starting to suspect that he has been picked for jury duty. 

So before I go call my sister Cindy to cancel our tentative lunch plans and then go outside to do some much-needed mowing, I hope that you will check out Cindy and Jody's beautiful Etsy store La Casa de Rosa.

Y'all have a great day and keep on laughing!

Gus, too!

Today has been great. Late this afternoon, after we ate lunch, Tony and I went to Kerrville to run a few errands.

Our last errand was at the little H-E-B to buy a few supplies. We were sort of in a hurry to do our grocery shopping, because we wanted to get back to the rescue ranch, so we could get some more mowing done. Not because we love to mow or totally enjoy mowing. We just wanted to mow so we could stay ahead of the never-ending, fast-growing grass and weeds.

At the little H-E-B, we had just put a box of my favorite Franzia Chillable Red Wine, into our cart and when we were starting, to turn left, so we could go pick up some milk and toilet paper, a very nice, friendly man, standing next to his food-tasting display greeted us. "Hi, would y'all like to try some of our delicious, gourmet pecans?"

We smiled and politely said, "No thank you." Because we were on a mission to shop fast and get back to the ranch.

When we started to push our cart forward, towards the milk section, he smiled at us again, and said, "I'm from Fort Davis, where we make our gourmet pecans."

That stopped me in our tracks, so I turned to him, and said, "We love Fort Davis and we own some property, in Terlingua."

He then got a big grin on his face, and said, "That's amazing! See that man right there, in the blue shirt? He just told me that he owns property, in Terlingua, too. It's a small world." We both chuckled about it and then Tony and I took off to get a gallon of 2% milk.

After we had put our favorite brand of toilet paper, into our shopping cart, we were done shopping, and Tony was so glad, because he can't stand grocery shopping. Anyway, when Tony started to push our cart towards the checkout counters, I said, "Wait a minute, Tony. I want to go back and buy us some of that man's pecans. He was so nice and friendly to us and he's trying so hard to get people to sample his new gourmet, pecan products. And that's not an easy job." Tony's smile quickly turned upside down, but he followed me back to where the salesman was standing.

"We've changed our minds," I said. "We want to buy some of your delicious-looking pecans." The smiling man, from West Texas, wearing a straw cowboy hat, handed us three small cups filled with the three different kinds of pecans that he was promoting, so we could decide which pecans we wanted to buy.

And while we were sampling the the three different, delicious, gourmet pecans, he told us, "We offer nine distinct flavors of fabulous pecans, but I only brought these three products to sell today. And our pecans are oven roasted and hand coated."

"We'll take one bag of each," I said. "These are incredibly delicious. I'm Nancy and this is my husband Tony. We run the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, in Medina. What's your name, because I want to blog about this tonight."

"I'm Gus. And thank you very much for doing that. You can check us out on our website: www.allpecans.com."

When we got back home I took this picture of the three sacks of the Davis Mountains Nut Company's gourmet pecans and we can't decide which of these tasty pecans we like the best. Because the Gourmet Hot & Spicy Pecans, the Gourmet Sweet & Spicy Pecans and the Gourmet Orange Twang Pecans each have their own unique delicious flavors.

Then I checked out the Davis Mountains Nut Company, Fort Davis, Texas website. Then I read the story about the two brothers, Gus and David Billing's pecan company. Then I discovered that they also have a Davis Mountains Nut Company blog, so I read some of that too and that was a fun read, too.

And that's about it for tonight, because I am going to relax and re-watch the great movie Trouble With The Curve, starring Clint Eastwood, John Goodman and Amy Adams which is now trending on Netflix. And you can click here to watch the movie trailer. And get this—Clint Eastwood's character that he plays is named Gus, too. 

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!